CoreLogic: Completed Foreclosures Continued To Fall In December

There were about 32,000 completed foreclosures nationwide in December – a decrease of 5.6% compared with 34,000 in November and a decrease of 23.8% compared with 41,000 in December 2014, according to CoreLogic.

It was a decrease of 72.8% from the peak of 117,722 completed foreclosures in September 2010.

Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 6.1 million completed foreclosures across the country, according to CoreLogic’s data.

Since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been about 8 million homes lost to foreclosure, the firm’s research shows.

As of December, there were about 433,000 properties – or 1.1% of all homes with a mortgage – in the national foreclosure inventory. That’s down from 568,000 properties, or 1.5% of all homes with a mortgage, in December 2014.

It was the lowest foreclosure inventory rate since November 2007.

The number of mortgages in serious delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure or real estate owned properties) in December decreased by 23.3% compared with December 2014, with 1.2 million mortgages, or 3.2%, in this category.

It was the lowest serious delinquency rate since November 2007.

“Reflecting on the full-year foreclosure results for 2015, we can see that completed foreclosures are down more than 20 percent for the year, which is the lowest level since 2006, before the crisis,” says Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a release. “Maryland, which can be described as a suburb of the solid Washington, D.C., market, led the way with a 59 percent decline in foreclosures in 2015.”

“The supply of distressed inventory continues to shrink rapidly. While this is positive for the housing market overall, it also drives a decline in the inventory of affordable for-sale homes,” adds Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The lack of housing stock, particularly affordable inventory, is a growing issue and will limit a full housing recovery in the short to medium term.”

For more, including a breakdown of which states and cities saw the most foreclosure activity, click here.